Utopias Bach - the evolution of the idea

The idea for Utopias Bach builds on my childhood (and continued) fascination with ‘gardens on a plate’, and other similar competitions-in-miniature at agricultural fairs (the joy of one knitted village, right down to knitted cabbages particularly sticks in my mind!), model railway exhibitions and the like. The imagination and possibility that goes into their creation, and the communal enjoyment and conversation they provoke points to the possibility of an interesting space for collective new imaginings:

“The miniature becomes a stage, on which we project, by means of association or intertextuality, a deliberately framed series of actions … the daydream of life inside life” - Susan Stewart

The evolution of Utopias Bach came similarly, through collaboration. The first with Samina Ali, who asked me to help her make a miniature scene as a present, re-imagining the place of ceremony. This piece led on to her making others, and to a ceremony in the ‘real world’ for a friend’s 40th birthday. And the second while walking (for 8.5 hours!) with my 14 year old God-son, Gruff, and talking about the state of the world. He has started making bonsai gardens, and when we came across an old derelict moss smothered ruin in the woods near Beddgelert, we started thinking about what it would be like to install lots of miniature worlds in there. Perhaps in miniature we can experiment and explore, perhaps seeding ideas and skills that could be used at bigger-than-miniature scales, even if that just means in a window box.

And it also builds on my Sgwrs Dyffryn Peris Conversation project, which started in January 2020, focused on 1:1 conversations about change and the future in the valley where I live. The strongest message emerging, reinforced during and after lockdown, was that people don’t know what to do about the big ‘global’ challenges, and big changes like increasing tourism that feel beyond our control: ‘it feels impossible to believe there are other ways of living – but we know we can’t continue like this’. But through conversation, started to get excited about doing things in their milltir sgwâr, that we can make a difference here, in ways that make us feel good, rather than ‘giving up’ things and the negative blame culture that seems to be increasingly around.

people/groups who have expressed an interest so far

Samina Ali, Gruff Ellis Jolley, Catrin Ellis, Llinos Griffin, Gwefus, Hwb Croesor, Siân Elen, Fiorella Porthmadog Banksy, Lisa Hudson, Wanda Zyborska, TOGYG, Huw Jones, Tim Albin, Sarah Pogoda, Neue Walisische Kunst (New Welsh Art), Anna Powell, Metamorffosis Festival 2021, Seran Arianwen, Carol Downes, Rob Idris, Julie Upmeyer, Plas Bodfa, David Tovey/Arts and Homelessness International, Debbie Braden, Perminder Dhillon, Andrew de Salis, Carrie Pester, Frances Williams, Wendy Dawson, Alan Whitfield, Emily Laurens, Audrey West, Mark Gahan and Teresa Walters (Rural Futures), Maggie Doherty/Roger Hughes, Bangor Arts Initiative, Catrin Ellis, Frances Williams, Steph Shipley, Maggie Doherty, Iain Biggs, Audrey West, Debbie Braden, Lynsey Smith.

Lisa, Wanda, Samina, Julie and I are now ‘running’ the project as project partners, doing bits of work behind the scenes (like seeking funding), while the Collabatory is where the co-creation and co-learning happens.

the first commuity pilot

Dan ni’n gweithio efo’r cymuned yn yr ardal Penrhyndeudreath i greu process ar lein dros 6 wythnos cyn nadolig. Llinos Griffin, Gwefus, Siân Elen a Fiorella Porthmadog Banksy sy’n arwain y prosiect.

See the way the group is working and what they have produced here